


Underground

by idrilswritings (idrilhadhafang)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Censorship, Dystopia, Female Protagonist, Gen, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Original Fiction, POV Character of Color, Strong Female Characters, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-14 04:40:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19266076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilswritings
Summary: The year is 2045, and President Aaron Knight is in power. During that time, among other things, any form of art that may be considered problematic is driven underground, away from the masses. There are those who still produce it, though the careful propaganda team that Knight has set up takes care to portray them as degenerates going against his plan for world peace.Iris Noble never expected to get caught up in the fight. And yet things tend to go a lot differently than anticipated...





	1. Prologue: Resistance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MidgardianNerd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidgardianNerd/gifts).



> Author’s Notes: Call this something that got too big for trope_bingo.

The meeting in and of itself was a dangerous mission, Diego Reyes already knew that. Even as he entered, he couldn’t help but be nervous, though he was pretty good at keeping his calm. He could still remember what his husband said, kissing him and saying that he wanted Diego back in one piece.

Diego couldn’t let him down either. 

His phone went off in that moment. Alice Masters, former President of the United States before President Censorship (Diego’s mental name for the President they were unlucky enough to have in charge right now) came along. Even as Diego walked to the farthest table, he hoped that no one noticed that he was Underground. 

Then again, no one would have guessed with the T-shirt and jeans, would they? 

He found the booth, and Alice. She was a pretty fifty-six-year-old woman, though Diego couldn’t say that he was sexually attracted to women necessarily. (Something that one of Knight’s miserable fucking cronies actually had the gall to say contributed to hating women, never mind that Diego wasn’t a misogynist) More than that was her charisma. Even in her state of being a retired president, she still radiated the feeling that she wouldn’t go down without a fight. Steel and silk all in one. 

Diego admired her for that, but quite a few people had. 

Alice gestured to him to sit down. Diego did. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” Alice said. 

“Not too loud,” Diego said. 

In the background, he could have sworn he saw someone take out their phone. Probably nothing, but you never knew with people these days. 

“Only one of them would be brave enough to find me. Or really stupid.”

”We need all the help we can get against Knight.”

“Knight,” Alice practically hissed. “If it were up to me, I’d throw him to the dogs for what he’s done to our country.”

”I agree, ma’am, but keep your voice down,” Diego said. “You never know who’s listening.”

”I know.” Alice sighed. “You’ll have to excuse me. The more I see on the news, the angrier I get.”

Diego couldn’t say he blamed her. After all the progress made by their first female president, everything had to be regressed by some delusional white man who thought that he was some sort of superhero. Saving the world from whatever he deemed degenerate, which included the destruction of art that was considered degenerate, and the imprisonment of the artists who made it. 

There had been petitions going around to free the artists, but so far, Diego knew, no luck. 

It was in that moment outside the booth that Diego heard screaming. He turned to Alice. “This isn’t good. We have to get out of here.”

”They must have found us.” Alice sighed. “When there’s smoke, there’s fire. That’s what they say.”

”You’re telling me.”

Diego opened the door, and it was then that he saw what was guaranteed to make him sick. Multiple black-clad soldiers, firing off shots against civilians. Civilians. Those people hadn’t done anything wrong except be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and now they were paying for it. 

It really was enough to conflict Diego. They had to stop the massacre, naturally, but at the same time, how were they going to stand a chance against these things without weapons of their own?

Diego knew that he shouldn’t play hero. When Liz had talked to him about it, she said that nothing was more important than his own life. “You can’t fight against Knight if you’re dead,” she said.

That was true. But at the same time, Diego couldn’t just let them kill everyone in the restaurant. 

They fought. God willing they fought. Diego had kept his wits about him and brought a blinker, a handgun that could easily be disguised as something innocuous; couldn’t be too careful in times like these. He and Alice used theirs, taking down soldiers where they could —

— at least until a stun-bullet got Diego. 

“Go, Alice!” he said. “I’ll catch up with you.”

She nodded. He had a feeling that she’d find a way to call for help. She really would. 

Even as Diego lay there, he was vaguely aware of one of the soldiers speaking. “It’s okay, he’s fine,” the soldier said. “We’ll get in contact with Knight and tell him we have a prisoner."

Diego could only take comfort in the fact that Alice had gotten away in time. Thank God. She was safe. 

“You’ve...already lost,” he said. “You’ll always lose...”

Everything went black just then. 


	2. Chapter 2

In the Allied States of America, just getting by was nigh impossible, but Iris Noble was at least trying. Even as she continued typing up her latest horror novel, she couldn’t help but feel some trepidation. She didn’t want to be the next one to go. Ever since Knight got into power, he’d been persecuting artists and writers left and right, egged on by people who’d decided to come out of the woodwork to encourage it. 

Iris couldn’t help but be afraid. Knight’s platform had run on the idea of upholding the same values of equality and decency as his predecessor, but he’d broken that promise. It had made her feel even stupider for voting for him. It wasn’t at all like Trump, where his evil had been obvious. Knight had been sneaky. 

Sometimes Iris blamed herself for putting him in power. 

She finished her quota for the day. Now she just needed to watch one of those movies from the 2010s, long before Knight got into power. The movies in the 2040s were mostly very watered down, meaningless trash. Junk food movies, as Iris’ friend Ellie would have said. You actually had to be very clever to access the sorts of movies the President didn’t want you watching. 

***

Diego woke up in a room of blinding white, almost completely surrounding him, and he knew immediately where he was. He was in the Re-education Room. That was where dissidents, at least captured dissidents, were taken in order to be “enlightened” on the subject of why exactly Aaron Knight was right. 

He wasn’t about to start pleading for mercy. Not only was it thoroughly undignified, but honestly? It wasn’t like Knight’s miserable fucking cronies had any concept of mercy. Not one bit. 

Footsteps. They seemed to echo throughout the blinding white room, and Diego struggled against his bonds. It was no use. He’d all but been shackled in place. A woman entered the room. He recognized her as a friend of his, Jamie Price. Well, former friend. Even remembering her justifications for joining Knight as his top interrogator was enough to make him ill. 

“Diego,” Jamie said, “I’m sorry it had to come to this.”

”No, you’re not.”

Jamie faltered. “I told you a while ago that I couldn’t help you from this point,” she said. “Stuff like this is gruesome, so...where is Alice?”

”Enough talk, Jamie,” one of the guards said. “Get to business.”

”There’s no use — ”

”He’s not your friend anymore,” the guard said. “He’s against us.”

”I’ll deal with him as I see fit,” Jamie said, her face stony. 

Diego glared up at her. “You think I’m giving you anything?”

”Why not?”

”You’re evil. Sick,” Diego said. “Every last one of you.”

Jamie actually looked hurt. Then, “It’s not evil to want stability and order. You remember the New Tens. All those disgusting, entitled white males, all those white women who tried to set human progress back with their fantasies...”

”That’s not how fantasies work.”

”You haven’t seen what I’ve seen.” Jamie sighed. “Alice could ruin everything.”

”You know that Knight’s a white male.”

”He’s not like the others.”

At least Knight liked to fancy he wasn’t like other white males. Never mind that white males weren’t a hive mind, and Knight was exactly the thing he claimed he was fighting against, just in different clothing. 

"You’re right. He isn’t. He’s worse.”

Jamie sighed. “Where is Alice? I’m not going to hurt you, but I’m going to get answers out of you however I can.”

”Fuck you.”

Jamie took a needle from the container filled with...some sort of bubbling blue liquid. Diego knew what it was. It was Truth Serum. 

“At last,” the other guard said, “We’re getting to the fun part...”

Jamie looked at Diego. It was clear, in that moment, that she was sorry for everything she was about to do to him. 

The needle practically plunged into Diego’s skin, and he bit his lip to stifle a whimper as well as whatever answers would inevitably come out of him. 

“Where is Alice?” Jamie said. 

“Fuck...you...” Diego already felt groggy, and like he was about to vomit. And there was a voice in his mind. _Just tell her, Di. It’ll make things easier..._

But he couldn’t do that. 

“Just tell me, Di,” Jamie said. “And we’ll let you go.”

He couldn’t. And yet he could feel the truth on the tip of his tongue, almost a compulsion. He had to keep his mouth shut, he had —

Then the guard couldn’t help but turn up the electricity and Diego opened his mouth, if only to scream. 


End file.
